Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Fresno Police Solve 30 Year-Old Murder of Victoria De Santiago
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 10:22 am
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| Murder of 8-year-old Victoria De Santiago solved after 30 years. |
Victoria De Santiago, 8, disappeared along with her 3-year-old sister as they returned home from a convenience store in Fresno, California on February 3, 1979. According to police, the abductor released the younger girl soon after the kidnapping, but kept Victoria for three days, doing only God knows what to her.Her nude body was found discarded in an irrigation channel east of the city, tossed out like yesterday's trash.
Police recovered evidence at the scene, but it led nowhere fast. DNA analysis was not available at the time, but astute detectives kept the evidence preserved just the same, hoping that it would someday pay off...
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| Fernando Caro Junior was ID'd as a suspect in the murder of the little girl. |
The first sample of evidence was submitted for DNA testing in 1989, and a second sample was submitted in 2001. Unfortunately, there were no hits and the case remained unsolved.Detective Carlos Leal struck pay dirt when he submitted a third sample of evidence to the Department of Justice crime lab in September 2008. A little more than three months later, he was notified of a possible hit.
The DNA analysis pointed to Fernando Caro Jr., who was serving time in San Quentin for the 1980 murders of Mark Hatcher and Mary Booher. Originally sentenced to death for their murders, his death penalty was overturned on appeal.
Investigators traveled to San Quentin and attempted to speak with Caro, but he refused. Nonetheless, they obtained a swab sample from Caro's mouth, and a postive match linking Caro to the little girl's murder was made a month later. The detectives remained quiet for about seven months as they studied the case, interviewed witnesses, and police officers who originally handled the case. They wanted to get all their ducks in a row before presenting their case to the DA's office. Victoria's family said they never gave up hope that the case would someday be solved.
"I'm happy," said Angelina DeSantiago, Victoria's mother. "I cannot express how grateful our family is. We always just lived with the hope that someday someone would come forward and say something."
Detective Leal believes that Caro chose Victoria at random. "I believe it was a crime of opportunity," Leal said. "He saw a chance and he took it."
Investigators believe that Caro murdered two other people in the Bakersfield area in March 1980, and say that he is a suspect in the deaths of at least five children.
Tags: California
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